Battle Mountain girls Alpine ski team wins Beaver Creek slalom
Boys took second by one point in second meet of the season
The Battle Mountain Alpine ski team has gotten its 2023 Colorado High School Ski League (CHSSL) season off to a fantastic start. On Thursday, the girls won the slalom team competition at Beaver Creek and the boys came in second by just one point, one week after both squads took second at the giant slalom at Loveland in the season opener.
“We are doing great so far as a team,” stated head coach Erik Gilbert. “Already qualified 21 different athletes to state after only the first two races. Hope to keep the momentum rolling!”
Thursday’s competition included eight teams, representing two of CHSSL’s four Alpine divisions. On the girls side, Battle Mountain was looking for some revenge after falling by just 10 points to Middle Park (a team’s best three athletes’ results are added together to form the overall team score) in Loveland on Jan. 6. In that race, Husky freshman Ruthie DeMino had the fastest times for both runs, cruising to the individual win by over two seconds.
On Thursday, DeMino placed second behind Middle Park junior Olivia Niedzwieck, but the Huskies put four in the top-10, with Makena Thayer, Thea Armistead and Emeline Mitchell placing fourth, ninth and 10th, respectively, to earn the team victory with 168 points. Middle Park finished with 164. Both Thayer and Armistead are also freshmen.
“Very strong freshmen group,” Gilbert said. “They are excellent teammates and are working on basics in their skiing, since simple skiing is fast skiing when you are fundamentally sound.”
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Ava Crowley put together two nice runs to place third overall for Vail Mountain School as the Gore Rangers (150) placed fourth as a team. Zoe Larese (14th) and Andrea Payen (24th) were the other scorers for VMS. Eagle Valley placed eighth and was led by Molly Heller (33rd) Charlotte Blevins (34th) and Evalynn Skiba (43rd).
“It was a great day on the hill. The weather was good and so was the snow,” stated Eagle Valley head coach Weston Gleiss. “The courses were set really well to challenge the kids but also give them a chance to push themselves. The kids skied great. You never really know how the first race is going to go and our athletes skied great.”
Gleiss said one thing he loves about ski racing is how it brings people together. “It truly takes a village to make these high school races happen,” he said. “To have the race crew, all these athletes, parents and coaches come together to make these races happen for the kids is remarkable.”
Team results (added from team’s top-three athletes)
Battle Mountain – 168
Middle Park – 164
Durango – 153
Vail Mountain School – 150
Nederland – 145
Lake County – 143
Clear Creek High School – 121
Eagle Valley High School – 120
Individual top 10
Pl Bib Class Team Name Run 1 Run 2 Result ________________________________________________________________________________ 1 188 Jr MID Olivia Niedzwiecki 44.84 (1) 46.56 (1) 1:31.40 (1) 2 23 Fr BMH Ruthie * DeMino 48.31 (3) 49.19 (2) 1:37.50 (2) 3 381 Sr VMS Ava Crowley 49.89 (4) 52.02 (6) 1:41.91 (3) 4 801 Fr BMH Makena Thayer 51.20 (7) 51.25 (5) 1:42.45 (4) 5 156 Sr LCO Rowynn Slivka 50.87 (6) 52.12 (7) 1:42.99 (5) 6 970 Jr DUR Gracey Hening 52.12 (8) 51.20 (4) 1:43.32 (6) 7 963 So DUR Lauren McClellan 52.24 (10) 52.46 (8) 1:44.70 (7) 8 190 Fr MID Maggie Bellatty 50.79 (5) 54.56 (15) 1:45.35 (8) 9 1 Fr BMH Thea Armistead 54.24 (19) 51.18 (3) 1:45.42 (9) 10 56 Jr BMH Emeline Mitchell 52.21 (9) 54.48 (13) 1:46.69 (10)
Team results (added from team’s top-three athletes)
Middle Park – 173
Battle Mountain – 172
Durango – 154.5
Nederland – 154.5
Lake County – 135
Clear Creek High School – 127
Eagle Valley High School – 90
Vail Mountain School – 44
Individual top 10
Pl Bib Class Team Name Run 1 Run 2 Result ________________________________________________________________________________ 1 195 Jr MID Garrett Gillest 40.09 (2) 47.27 (1) 1:27.36 (1) 2 12 Sr BMH Michael 'Cricket' 41.16 (3) 49.64 (2) 1:30.80 (2) 3 185 Sr MID Sebastian Wiser 38.43 (1) 53.61 (7) 1:32.04 (3) 4 65 Sr BMH Henry Regrut 42.37 (5) 51.23 (3) 1:33.60 (4) 5 17 Sr BMH Andrew Conley 42.71 (6) 51.47 (5) 1:34.18 (5) 6 196 Fr MID Salvador Stokled 43.63 (8) 51.50 (6) 1:35.13 (6) 7 910 Jr NED Kelly Dylan 43.91 (9) 51.34 (4) 1:35.25 (7) 8 965 Jr DUR Ian Fehr 41.36 (4) 53.89 (8) 1:35.25 (7) 9 987 So DUR Dane Englund 46.07 (11) 53.90 (9) 1:39.97 (9) 10 50 So BMH Keelan Losa 47.47 (14) 55.39 (10) 1:42.86 (10)
On the boys side, Middle Park totaled 173 points and was led by overall winner Garrett Gillest. The Huskies (172) placed four athletes in the top 10 of the 77-athlete field — Cricket Byrne (second), Henry Regrut (fourth), Andrew Conley (fifth) and Keelan Losa (10th).
Eagle Valley’s Silas Lovgren (27th) and Zach Higbee (37th) guided the Devils to a seventh-place finish and Aiden Burke (35th) led VMS to an eighth-place finish.